Hike the trail to Vesper summit.  Bear right and off trail to first notch in ridge  (see photo in CAG II, page 50).  Scramble ledge to end.

The route consists of two class 4 pitches followed by three class 5 pitches. Pitch out or scramble to a small ledge. From ledge, pitch 3 traverses leftward and ascends a corner (5.5-5.6) to belay. Pitch 4 again bears slabs (5.5). Last pitch up the face is low angle, but runout.  I found places for small gear.

North Face

Fish & Whistle

True Grit

Ragged Edge

This is a nice, moderate route that follows the eastern "ragged" edge on the north face of Vesper.

From the col, scramble/traverse a ledge system around to the north face.

The route consists of 6 pitches (5.5-5.7), with the cruxes at P5 and possibly P3. The variation (shown in blue on the topo) on P1 and P2 is worth doing (if there's not a queue for it already).

The following is copied from the first ascensionist's route description:

Approach Description

The trail fades out as you enter the basin between Vesper and Sperry Peaks. Cross the outlet of the lake and follow an obvious talus ridgeline up to a col between the peaks. The climb is accessed by a ledge system that cuts across the north face of Vesper at about 5800 ft elevation and begins at a small notch overlooking the Vesper Glacier. Allow 3+ hours for the approach.

Walk out the ledge on steep exposed heather (snow until mid-late summer?). When you can't walk any further either (A) scramble up a short gully to a broken ledge or (B) drop down and around the buttress toe on a very exposed 3rd class scramble to an obvious and clean 5.6 layback crack (better start). The 3rd class slabs at mid-height on the first pitch could easily be accessed after climbing the lower half of the north face as well.

Original Start - Red Line

P1)

Climb approximately 60 ft of low-5th terrain to 3rd class slabs. Continue up the obvious flaky gully and arrange a gear belay just below a short overhanging wall (low-5th 170 ft).

P2)

Traverse right on a long, thin ledge then a short gully to a fixed belay on the skyline (4th 60 ft).

Slightly contrived variation start with better climbing - Blue Line

P1)

Climb a nice layback flake then a low-angle groove to 3rd class slabs. Traverse hard right then follow the highest grassy ledge system approximately 40 ft to a gear belay below a faint white dyke splitting a slab (5.6 160 ft). Note that you can also reach this belay from the original start as well.

P2)

Climb the dyke past three bolts to a thin ledge. Traverse right and up a short gully to a fixed anchor on the skyline (5.7 90 ft).

P3)

Step right then traverse back left on positive edges towards the skyline. Find a bolt then continue up a nice arête protected by fixed pins. Arrange a gear belay atop a heather ledge (5.7 95 ft).

P4)

Step right and climb steep, stacked blocks. Easy zig-zag cracks above lead to a fixed anchor. I aggressively trundled loose and semi-loose blocks off this pitch but some caution is still advised (5.7 95 ft).

P5)

Step right again and climb straight up in an exposed position. At the second bolt traverse right 50 ft to a fixed anchor on the skyline (5.7 80 ft).

P6)

Follow the nice arête to a final touch of heather and the summit. (5.5 130 ft). Walk off to the southeast.

Resources:

* A great route description by the first ascensionist is

here

(

cascadeclimbers.com/forum/u…

).

* Nice photos of the route are

here

(

nwhikers.net/forums/viewtop…

).

Sustained climbing up a nice friction slab, a tenuous seam and a long, exposed face.  P1/2 and P3/4 are readily linked with a 60m rope.  Rock quality on this part of the face is generally excellent.

P1   Climbs a great friction slab past 5 bolts.   80’ 5.9 or 5.10-

P2 Head straight up a much easier slab past 2 bolts, a fixed pin and a couple small gear placements.  Just below a tree traverse left across a heather gully then up 8’ of 4th class choss to a fixed anchor. 115’ 5.7

P3 Juggy rock leads up and right into a nice long seam protected by a mix of gear and bolts.  A great pitch.  90’ 5.9

P4 A short connector pitch climbs up then right past 4 bolts. 60’ H.6

P5 Climb straight up the face above on progressively harder face climbing past 9 bolts.  The last 10’ will remind you that you’re still climbing off the Mountain Loop Highway.  Need small cams or cordellete for belay. 140’ 5.9 or 5.10-

A fun moderate route in a great setting that will leave you wishing it were longer. With the highlight definitely the cracks on P4 with a step across.

While it has convenient bolted belays at nice stances don't let this fool you. It is an alpine climb. You'll scramble heather benches (or traverse steeper snow) with good exposure, potential for loose rock and some lichen still here and there. Darin did a great job of cleaning up this route, but freeze thaw cycles could cause more rocks to loosen up and it will need traffic to keep it clean.

FA description:

P1 Easy climbing on clean granite. Step left to a bolted belay below an obvious narrow chimney. 5.4 ~200'

P2 Up a groove to the squeeze chimney then a difficult move onto a short bolted slab. The chimney can be avoided by moving right into a short corner (watch for loose blocks at it's top) 5.8 100'

P3 A nice pitch. Slab, then a shallow corner, pull over a small overhang and follow jigsaw rock to a tiny belay ledge. 5.7 100'

P4 Climb the long sustained splitter with a crux step across where the crack disappears briefly. Fun juggy climbing leads to a belay at the crest of the headwall. 5.8 120'

P5 A short scruffy pitch of easy face and slab climbing leads to the top of the face. 5.6 (not 5.8 like in the image below!) 80'

cascadeclimbers.com/forum/u…
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Description

Protection

Routes in Vesper Peak